We've all heard the saying "You can't please all the people all the time", but apparently Saskatchewan's INTO ETERNITY haven't. They've been going strong for a while now with their power/melodic death hybrid metal despite line-up problems, and while they've managed to hold together this mismatch of styles up to this point, it's starting to come apart with their latest album, "The Scattering of Ashes".

For one, new vocalist and Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho look-alike Stu Block has a style that's often at odds with the progressive tone that the rest of the band is trying to convey. His impossibly high pitches on songs like "Endless Winter" sound like a carbon copy of the guy from 3 INCHES OF BLOOD, but unfortunately unless you're actually trying to be funny with lyrics like "Enemies of metal, your death is our reward!" it just doesn't work. In all fairness, when I saw these guys live at last year's Gigantour, he was hitting those pitches spot-on. Well, enjoy it while you can, because from the sound of it he won't be able to do that for very long! While we're in bitch mode, the fake ass sounding clickety-click drum triggers have got to go. Is the guy behind the kit trying to keep a beat or type out a book report? Yuck. And although guitarist Tim Roth certainly has chops, his flashy leads can't save these songs from being all-too-familiar territory through harmonies we've all heard umpteen billion times. The high point of the album is the track "Surrounded by Night", easily the most proggy track and, despite the fact that it sounds more than a little effeminate, the fact that they're holding back the flashiness and silliness helps make it work. One can't help but feel, though, that what they're holding in their hands was written to appeal to as many youngsters as possible, a case heartily backed up by some pretty whiny introspective lyrics (not to mention a horrifically emo video for "Severe Emotional Distress" that's posted on the band's MySpace page).

This is obviously the sort of problem that every hybrid band faces, but thus far INTO ETERNITY doesn't quite seem up to the challenge of uniting all metal fans under one banner. "The Scattering of Ashes" is not going to make the average death metal nut put down his KRISIUN albums, nor is it going to make the average prog/power fan give up his DREAM THEATER. Fans who aren't necessarily diehards of either genre may dig what this album has to offer. More discerning tastes, however, should look elsewhere.

- Cardona

OFFICIAL SITE: www.intoeternity.net

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